Heterophobia: what it is, symptoms, and how it affects relationships

The term known as "heterophobia" today is not found in the Dictionary of the Royal Spanish Academy (RAE); however, in recent years it has been making more and more noise, and it should be noted that it has several definitions, as we will see in this article.

Heterophobia is a term with various definitions such as the following: "irrational fear of the opposite gender" or also as the "fear or confusion in the face of what is different, in this case being the excessive fear of the unknown that causes discomfort in people who suffer from this type of phobia".

In this article we will talk in more detail about the concept of heterophobia and its different definitions, its main characteristics, the most common symptoms of those who suffer from this kind of phobia and, finally, we will present some examples.

• Related article: "Types of Phobias: Exploring Fear Disorders"

What is heterophobia?

Heterophobia is a somewhat controversial concept, its use being considered as unnecessary, and even non-existent in practice depending on the different definitions it has. In this sense, there are those who consider that the term heterophobia understood as the "rejection of heterosexuality" does not exist because it is very rare that such cases occur. Therefore, they affirm that the existence of heterophobia could not be considered according to this definition. because heterosexual people have not often been marginalized because of their orientation sexual.

However, heterophobia has been defined in various ways, among which is the "rejection of what is different or unknown", a more accepted definition. Fernando Savater, the philosopher, already spoke about heterophobia in an essay, defining himself as that feeling of hatred and fear of others, strangers, those who are different, outsiders or those who break into our circle of identification from the outside; thus considering it as a “moral illness”.

On the other hand, psychology has come to use another definition for heterophobia, being understood as the “fear or phobia of the opposite sex”, and may have been triggered by some bad experience at a sexual, relational and/or sentimental level.

Next we will see in more detail the different definitions that we have been able to find about the heterophobia and then we will explain the main characteristics of those people who suffer from this kind of phobia.

• You may be interested: "Stereotypes, Prejudice, and Discrimination: Why Should We Avoid Prejudging?"

The different definitions of heterophobia

The term heterophobia may be new or unknown to many people; however, lately it has come to be used more frequently and, despite the fact that it is not included in the dictionaries official of the Spanish language, many people have coupled it within their language and that is why it is convenient to keep in mind its meaning.

Besides, this term has been receiving more attention within the field of psychology, being considered as a kind of phobia, being taken into account for it by some professionals, although it is not find it explicitly included in any of the main diagnostic manuals on mental disorders (DSM and ICD); however, it could be classified with a class of specific phobia and consider its symptoms in relation to it.

By this we do not mean to say that behind heterophobia there is a manual mental disorder, but we do want to bear in mind its possible classification within specific phobias in order to understand this type of phobia in greater detail, taking as reference other phobias that have been more studied and that could present certain similarities with it in terms of their possible symptomatology.

The word 'phobia', as we well know, is used to designate a great dislike or fear of something, so heterophobia could be used to refer to one of those types of phobia. On the other hand, 'hetero', from an etymological point of view, refers to everything that is different, being used in the field of gender and sexuality.

According to its etymological meaning, we could begin to define the term heterophobia as that irrational fear of the opposite gender that some people may have. In this case we would be talking about the fear of heterosexual relationships that some people could suffer and that It can also develop as a result of various causes, such as the fact of having had a bad experience in the last.

Another definition of heterophobia would be a type of specific phobia suffered by some people towards other people with a heterosexual sexual orientation or towards heterosexuality, This word can be considered in this case as the opposite of homophobia, which according to the RAE refers to the aversion that some people have towards homosexuals or towards homosexuality.

On the other hand, there is also the definition of heterophobia referring to that strangeness, that kind of fear or confusion in the face of what is different; In this case, the excessive fear of the unknown that causes discomfort in people who suffer from this type of phobia, and which is usually part of the personality of many of the social subjects.

• Related article: "Top 10 Types of Sexual Orientation"

Main characteristics of heterophobia

Now that we have explained the different definitions that we have been able to find about the term heterophobia, it is convenient that we see what they are. the main characteristics of those people who suffer from this kind of phobia, so we are going to list them below.

• One or more of the following characteristics fundamentally present, each one referring to the different definitions of this term that we saw previously: have negative references to people of the opposite gender or sex, and fear or confusion about what is different, being the excessive fear of the unknown what causes discomfort.
• Excessive avoidance or escape from any stimulus related to the phobia.
• Palpitations and hyperventilation in situations in which they are exposed to the feared stimulus.
• Intense anxiety before any estimation of threat, usually wrong, which is usually the feared stimulus.
• Possibility of appearance of notable discomfort derived from this phobia.

Symptoms against feared stimuli and situations within heterophobia

Once we have known the different definitions and the main characteristics of people who suffer from heterophobia, we are going to proceed to present the possible symptoms that these people could suffer when they are exposed to feared stimuli and/or situations because of this type of phobia, these being the ones that we are going to list below:

• Anxiety in the face of feared situations and stimuli (p. g., when being alone with people of the opposite gender).
• Sensation of suffocation in front of the feared stimulus.
• Concern.
• Tachycardia and/or palpitations.
• Peripheral manifestations (eg. g., hyperhidrosis or excessive sweating in the face of a feared situation).
• Sensation of discomfort when he is exposed to a feared situation or stimulus.

Examples of cases of heterophobia

One of the examples that may be more familiar to most would be the possible case of heterophobia suffered by the character of the series 'The Big Bang Theory', known as Dr. Rajesh Koothrappali, an astrophysicist with Indian nationality, who suffers from selective mutism towards people of the opposite gender, so that those who have seen the series You will remember those scenes in which Rajesh is unable to utter a single word when he is in front of a woman, unless he is in a state of drunkenness.

Another possible case of heterophobia would be the one that a woman who has suffered some type of violence by people of the opposite sex, be it physical or psychological violence and/or some sexual assault, in such a way that they end up developing an irrational fear towards men in general and not only towards the aggressor.